Danderma's Blog, page 55

Movie Review: Olympus Has Fallen

The movie was released in Kuwait on the 21st of March, a day before it was released in the USA and as soon as I saw the actors and the trailers I knew I was in for a good movie so I couldn’t wait to see it. I saw it Thursday night and I have to say I enjoyed it very very much.

Aaron Eckhart plays the president of the United States who one day finds himself a hostage in the White House and its up to the White House speaker Morgan Freeman to handle the terrorists demands and lead the country through the crisis while an ex-president guard, Gerard Butler, tries to save the day and rescue the president.

The movie is pure action with lots of bullets and is quite bloody. For some reason many scenes in Kuwait, dialogue scenes that explains the characters behavior and the story itself were cut off. I didn’t care for that at all. Overall, its very good and I can’t wait for it to be released on DVD so I can watch it again and add it to my DVD shelf. A must watch for sure.

Do You Give Out People’s Emails without Permission?

I once wrote a post about people who give out other people’s phone number’s to anyone who would ask without permission first (post). It’s annoying, vulgar, and every bit an invasion on individual’s privacy especially if it’s not a business phone number. If giving out people’s private phone number’s without permission is bad, giving out their private emails is just as bad.

When people contact me on the blog, there is a contact form without a direct email address for a reason. At first I thought to myself why, let the email be public for everyone to use, right? That was my perspective until the day companies and marketing agencies began to contact me, and I replied. More than once, a few too many time to my dislike actually, after I reply to a company regarding anything, I find myself subscribed to a newsletter where I receive endless notification about products or services and I would have to go unsubscribe myself from it. When I replied to your email, it was because I wanted to reply to your query and NOT to be entered into your database to receive one million and one newsletters!

The etiquette of giving out and sharing people’s emails should be the same as the etiquette of giving out and sharing people’s private phone numbers. Do not distribute emails without their owner’s permission. Do not enter those emails in a newsletter they would have to subscribe from later without permission. And do not fill our mailbox with press releases out of the blue just because you heard X is a blogger who may or may not be interested in posting about every little thing you distribute to all other newspapers and media outlets. Also, we would appreciate it when you send an email to more than one person that you’d use the BCC option rather than the To or CC especially when people start replying to the email by pressing “Reply to All” and all of us keep getting snippets of your electronic conversation when we weren’t interested in what you had to say in the first place.

Have you ever given out someone’s email without checking with them first? Have your email ever given to someone or entered in a newsletter without your permission?

Finding Beauty in Black & White

Whenever I like a certain shot I take with my camera, I try to apply a black and white or sepia effect on it and see how it turns out. When the color is taken out of a photo and it still looks interesting, it reminds me of the moments in life that are colorless and bleak but still you get something out of, like finding another level of beauty in the forms of patterns, lines, and shadows. These are the ones I like most from my one million and one collection of pictures, I’m thinking I might print some out to hang on my still boring empty white wall.

The Last Day for P2BK Village

Today is the last day for the Proud to be Kuwaiti village exhibition and if you haven’t been there already you should. For the past two weeks the village was a popular destination to many people in Kuwait and though the expo is ending but the good news is that the village will not be torn down and will stay for other exhibitions throughout the year. Here are a few pictures of the village I haven’t posted yet, better today than tommorow.

 

Spring in Kuwait Means: Butterflies Everywhere!

For the past few days I’ve been seeing swarms of butterflies everywhere! The distinctive orange and black butterfly we get to see in Kuwait is big and fluttery and a tad reckless for it keeps running head first into my car’s windsheild and splattering against my window while I’m driving! I’m usually afraid of butterflies (and all other insects) but I wanted to take a picture of the butterfly because I realized that when it appears, it means spring is here!

When I arrived home a few days ago I saw a lone butterfly buzzing around our parking area so I decided to overcome my fear of Butterflies and photograph it. It wasn’t easy at all and she kept fluttering away and flying towards me but I did get this one semi-decent shot below.

When I was done I realized that in Kuwait we do feel spring after all! Spring in here is short, warm, cloudy, breezy, and filled with butterflies dancing around everywhere landing on the nowwair flowers! Spring is beautiful, and it has arrived!

Waitrose Products in The Sultan Center

I TSC’s latest newsletter sent via email they stated that have started stocking items from the UK’s supermarket Waitrose in Sultan Center of Kuwait. Usually when I travel to London I bring back some non-perishable food products to use and perishable food items to consume during the first week of my return therefore I passed by TSC to check what Waitrose items do they stock and is now readily available in Kuwait.

Most of the product provided are dry ones you can keep in the pantry for a while. First stop was the baking aisle where I found cooking chocolate, crystallised ginger, organic flour, chocolate sauce and chocolate spread.

Many different types of rice plus organic spaghetti and vermicelli.

Lasagna sauce, sundried tomatoes, and sundried tomato spread. No herbs or spices though.

Different types of honey, jams, chutney, and spreads. The chutney would be great in an cheddar cheese sandwich.

Two types of spanish olive oils, many jars of olives, pickles, and coloured peppers.

Condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustards.

Dry instant soup in a cup, perfect for work.

Canned beans, carrots, peas, green beans, organic kidney beans.

Cereal, biscuits, cookies, and crackers.

I also found tonic water, elderflower extract, on long life tomato juice.

In the freezer section I found different types of cakes and gateaux plus frozen garlic bread and frozen vegetarian patties.

What I was hoping to see was the Waitrose herbs and spices such as their oregano, thyme, vanilla beans. Also, their sliced cheeses which are available in Waitrose Dubai and perhaps more frozen foods or ready meals and more juices but there is quite a selection indeed. The ones I found are in Sultan Sha’ab branch by the way and there could be different products in other branches of Sultan Center.

The Ridiculous Prices of Soft Drinks

I never really checked a restaurant’s menu for prices before. If I want to get something I get it regardless of the price. The other day I tried to order in lunch from a restaurant that is new to the “home delivery” scene in Kuwait and they took forever to arrive. When lunch was finally on my dining table I realized it was missing my diet soft drink. I double checked the bill for my missing can of soft drink, maybe I didn’t order it? Only to find that I did order it and that the cost of that missing can of cola is 1 KD!

1 KD for a can of soft drink? I’m not cheap or stingy with money but I know for a fact that a can of soft drink is sold at the co-ops for 80 fils! From 80 fils to 1 KD? Thats just too much! I check other restaurants with delivery menus and the prices of a can of soft drink is between 250 or 300 fils, maximum 500 fils. But an entire Kuwaiti dinar for one can of cola that is missing b3d? That’s just too much.

I understand the price of ordering an expensive soft drink in restaurants: storage, service, glasses, washing liquid, labor, ice, coaster, lemon, a straw to drink out with. But when you grab the can out of the shelf in the fridge and put it in the bag and charge me an entire KD for it, that’s unrreasonable. Restaurants should revise the prices of soft drink cans in their take away and delivery menus, its unfair to pay both a hefty delivery charge and a more than ten times the price of a soft drink can for a take out meal.

I don’t think I will be ordering anymore soft drinks from a restaurant for over 350 fils. I’d rather drink water from my cooler. My philosophy in ordering things blindly must stop, no wonder I’m always broke by the end of the month!

What about you? Do you think charging 1 KD for a can of cola that may or may not arrive is acceptable?

Le Sushi Bar Japanese Tea Set

I arrived home yesterday to find a big wood and leather box waiting for me on my dining table from Le Sushi Bar, the newly opened Japanese restaurant in Al-Hamra that I’ve reviewed a few weeks back (post).

The box is is actually a Japanese tea set: tray, two Japanese tea cups, and a small Japanese tea pot with two different types of tea. How lovely!

The Japanese tea set from Le Sushi bar is actually an invitation to a pre-Mother’s day celebration dinner in Le Sushi Bar. Thank you Le Sushi Bar for the invitation, its really lovely!

Le Sushi Bar is located in the second floor of Al-Hamra mall. For more information you can contact by calling 22270300, checking their website (link), or following them on instagram (@LeSushiBarKW).

Turning Pictures into Poster Art

I have a big wall in my apartment that is stark white and very boring. I’ve been thinking of hanging something on the wall to liven it up a bit and have looked around but didn’t find anything that I liked. I then decided why not try to make posters of pictures that I love using the “Posterise” picture option available in many photo editing applications (Picasa for example). The resulting pictures are very different with shadows that give off a broody mood. The poster version of the pictures are more interesting to me than the actual pictures.

I think I might very well be hanging my own “synthetic” art pieces on the walls, at least it contains a part of my soul plus they are unique to me. My very own poster art with a click of a button. They just need to be edited into perfection and then they are going on the wall for sure

Do you Take Calls After a Certain Hour?

I remember a time in my life when time made sense to people. There was a certain cutoff time for going out, visiting, sleeping, watching TV, or calling people. Ever since the internet was introduced into our lives and we were taken up by the whirlwind of the smart phone usage time seems to make no sense to anyone anymore!

In the past, it was inappropriate to make phone calls to someone before 8 A.M. or after 9 P.M. unless it was an emergency. At least that’s the way it was in my surroundings and I still get freaked out if I get a phone call early in the morning because it must mean a catastrophe has struck. Though I mind the morning phone calls and not much of a fan of phone calls anyway, I don’t mind getting calls after 10 P.M. or 11 P.M. at the max. My husband gets irritated and won’t answer a phone call if it came after 9:30 P.M. and will complain until the next day if I answer my phone after 9:30 P.M.

Perhaps we are old fashioned, but we already are receiving whatsapps, instagram comments, tweets, and emails all day long. Is it necessary to want to chat after 11 P.M. when we should all be turning the lights down and getting ready for bed? Is it even appropriate to get a 100+ whatsapp notifications from a group that wakes you up at 1 A.M or an email from a company requesting a post at 2:30 A.M.? Is there such a thing as “appropriate” at all in the digital age?

Of course you can always switch off your phone and no one will bother you that way but what if I’m the one doing the calling/texting? Should the etiquette of making a phone call include sending texts, or should it be OK to call regardless of the hour of day now that everyone is connected 24 hours? Do you still apply the rule of not taking calls after a certain hour, or is that notion not applicable anymore?